Columnist Gp Capt SULTAN M HALI writes about the PAFâ€™s air strike on PATHANKOT in 1965.
PAFâ€™s air strike on 6th September, 1965 on the Indian Air Force base of Pathankot has been rated by historians and defence analysts of both Indian and Pakistan as one of the most successful air raids of contemporary history. Not only did the PAF pilots achieve complete surprise but they also executed the attack with text-book precision. Its details make fascinating reading.
PAFâ€™s airfield strike plan for the dusk of day one of the war in 1965 comprised the following:-

STATION OF ORIGIN SORTIES & AIRCRAFT TARGET
Sargodha 8 F-86 Sabres Adampur
Sargodha 8 F-86 Sabres Halwara
Peshawar 8 F-86 Sabres Pathankot
Mauripur 8 F-86 Sabres Jamnagar
Source: Story of PAF
The Time Over Target (TOT) for the strike was set at 1705 hours. This was to be followed by night bombing raids by B-57 bombers.
No 19 Squadron which was based at Peshawar, had been given the Indian airfield at Pathankot as its first target. This target had been allotted in mid-1965 when the Rann of Katch crisis was at its peak. Pathankot was the only large Indian Air Force (IAF) airfield within fighter reach of Peshawar, and even this distance of 200 miles or so was marginal for the Sabre, with two 200-gallon drop tanks in addition to full internal fuel, if sufficient reserve was to be kept in hand for a fighting exit. This would limit the weapons to only the 1800 rounds of the six. 50 Browning guns of the Sabres.
Squadron Leader Sajad Haider, affectionately known as â€˜Nosey Haiderâ€™, the Squadron Commander of No 19 Squadron had prepared his squadron pilots well and planned the strikes very thoroughly using a High-lo-High profile. This involved getting airborne from Peshawar and climbing high in the opposite direction then dipping to tree-top level below radar cover, turning simultaneously towards the target. The Squadron had in fact carried out identical and simulated strikes to practice for attacks on its primary and alternate targets.
Dawn of 6th September, 1965 saw a formation of 6 F-86s of No 19 Squadron fully loaded with 5 inch rockets (a last minute premonition the night before, by Air Marshal Nur Khan the C-in-C, which paid rich dividends) flying on â€œHot Patrolâ€™. The moment the Air Defence Commander learnt of Indian Armyâ€™s advance towards Lahore, the 19 Squadron formation was diverted to stop the advancing Indian armour columns at Wagah. In twenty minutes of action, the Grand Trunk Road was littered with scores of burning tanks, armoured and soft vehicles. The 5 inch rockets had a devastating effect on the enemy armour. The formation led by Squadron Leader Sajad Haider with Flight Lieutenants M Akbar, Dilawar Hussain, Ghani Akbar and Flying Officers Khalid Latif, and Arshad Chaudhry brought the Indian attack to a dead halt.
After landing at Sargodha for re-fuelling, the formation rushed back to Peshawar to prepare for the strike on Pathankot.
Having rested a while the pilots were assembled for a final briefing at 1600 hrs. The formation comprised:-
After a thorough briefing and going over the already well rehearsed strike plan, Squadron Leader Sajad Haider surprised his pilots by asking for a fire bucket filled with fresh water. He pulled out a bottle of No 4711 Eau-de-Cologne from his coverall pocket and emptied it in the bucket. He took small white towellettes, dipped them in the water and after wringing them out, handed over one each to his pilots. â€œThis could be a one-way mission and if we meet our Maker, we should be smelling niceâ€, Sajad Haider wryly remarked.1 Every pilot complied, his resolve emboldened and his faith reinvigorated.
Everything proceeded according to the plan and the formation got airborne at 1630 hours, climbed in battle formation up to about 11,000 metres and then dived down to tree top level and set course for the I P (initial point) for the target.
The planning staff was not certain whether Pathankot would still be occupied by IAF aircraft after the outbreak of hostilities. But the formation of eight Sabres, escorted by two more sidewinders equipped
F-86s acting as top cover at 6,000 metres were fortunate.
A glimpse of the other side of the story is also presented from website Bharat Rakhshak:
â€œMeanwhile, at the IAF Air Base at Pathankot, the Station Commander, Group Captain Roshan Suri had just returned from a meeting of Station Commanders from Western Air Command. Suri briefed his Squadron Commanders of the impending Army move to cross the international border....
As evening approached, Pathankot Airbase received an urgent phone call from Squadron Leader Dandapani at Amritsar Air Defence Centre. He spoke to Wing Commander Kuriyan and informed him that several Sabres had been observed taking off and then go â€˜Off the Scopeâ€™ as they all went below the radar horizon. This had all the tell-tale signs of an incoming raid. Kuriyan informed Suri about the suspicions of a raid and asked for permission to scramble the CAP (Combat Air Patrol). (This is where the Pathankot Base Commander made a vital mistake for which IAF paid dearly) Suri refused to order the CAP to go off and ordered Kuriyan to go off the shift.â€2
The PAF aircraft reached Pathankot precisely on time at 1705 hours and discovered a large number of IAF aircraft parked around in protected dispersal pens. With no enemy fighters in the vicinity and fairly thin ground fire, â€˜Noseyâ€™ set the ball rolling with four carefully-positioned dives from about 500 metres, systematically selecting individual aircraft in protected pens on the airfield for his fixed-gun attacks. He was gratified to recognize the distinctive delta-winged MiG-21s- Indiaâ€™s latest fighter - among the aircraft on the ground, and singled them out for special attention.
The rest of the pilots followed suit. Each pilot had been briefed to make only two passes but the lucrative targets and limited opposition enabled them to make multiple passes. Wing Commander Tawab, flying top cover, counted at least 14 fires burning on the airfield.
â€œWing Commander Kuriyan was just then driving into his garage at his house, when he heard the ack ack guns booming. He looked towards the airfield to see four F-86 Sabres bore down the airfield at low level firing their machine guns, while two â€˜F-104 Starfightersâ€™ kept high altitude cover. As the four Sabres pulled out, another four bore in. The Sabres strafed buildings, installations and aircraft on the ground....
......The Sabres attacked the row of MiGs and Mysteres along the blast pens in the airfield. The CAP was not scrambled. Two of the MiGs, which were being refuelled after returning from an earlier flight, went up in flames.
.......Some Mysteres on the ground bore the brunt of the raid and were damaged as were the two MiG-21s. Only the fact that the Sabreâ€™s 0.50 inch machine guns could fire ball ammunition instead of exploding cannon shells prevented further damage. The Sabres slipped off unscathed as even the airfield defences were caught napping. For the PAF this raid was a cakewalk. All in all one C-119, four Mysteres, two Gnats and two MiG-21s were destroyed in this highly successful raid by the Pakistan Air Force.â€ 3
After de-briefing and interrogation, this text book operation against Pathankot was credited with seven MiG-21s, five Mysteres and one Fairchild C-119 destroyed on the ground, plus damage to the Air Traffic Control building - IAF admits to the loss of only two MiG-21s but it goes to the credit of PAF that after the fateful strike on Pathankot, Indian MiG-21s were not seen in the air for the remaining duration of the 1965 War.
Epilogue:
Where are they now?
Six of the pilots on the devastating raid on Pathankot including both pilots flying Top Cover, Squadron Leader Sajad Haider, Flight Lieutenants M Akbar, Dilawar Hussain, Ghani Akbar and Arshad Sami and Wing Commander M G Tawab were decorated with the Sitara-e-Jurat.
Squadron Leader Sajad Haider later commanded the Flying wing at Sargodha during the 1971 War. He served as Air Attache at Washington D.C. and retired as Air Commodore in 1983.
Flight Lieutenant M Akbar rose to the rank of Air Commodore, commanded the Pakistan Armed Forces Mission at Riyadh and retired in September, 1991.
Flight Lieutenant Dilawar saw action during the 1971 War and shot down an IAF Hunter over Dhaka on 04 December, 1971. He went on to become an Air Marshal and retired from the post of Director General Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra.
Flying Officer Abbas Khattak also saw action in the 1971 War. He rose to the rank of Air Chief Marshal and commanded Pakistan Air Force from 1994-97. He is now leading a retired life.
Flying Officer Arshad Chaudhry rose to the rank of Air Marshal and retired from the post of Vice Chief of the Air Staff in 1997.
Flight Lieutenant Mazhar Abbas retired in the rank of Air Commodore.
Flying Officer Khalid Latif retired in the rank of Group Captain.
Flight Lieutenant Ghani Akbar left the airforce as a Squadron Leader and started flying for PIA. He is now retired.
Flight Lieutenant Arshad Sami Khan left the Air Force in the rank of Squadron Leader and joined Foreign Service. Currently he is an Ambassador.
Wing Commander M G Tawab left Pakistan Air Force in the rank of Group Captain. He later became an Air Vice Marshal and commanded the fledgling Bangladesh Air Force. After his retirement, he settled in Germany, where he breathed his last in 1998 after a brief illness. His demise was mourned by friends and admirers all over.

Pathankot

PathankotBack at the Pathankot Airbase, the Station Commander, Gp. Capt. Roshan Suri had just then returned from a meeting of Station Commanders from Western Air Command. Suri then briefed the Squadron Commanders of the impending Army move to cross the international border and also told his eager subordinates that the operational orders issued prevented counter air missions against Pakistani Airbases. Several Officers raised objections at this announcement, and for most this did not go down too well.Evening was approaching Pathankot, when a phone call to Pathankot Airbase was made by Sqn. Ldr. Dandapani from the Amritsar ADC. He called up Pathankot and spoke to Wg. Cdr. Kuriyan. Dandapani told Kuriyan that they had several Sabres, take off from Sargodha and go "off the scope" as they went below the radar horizon. This had all the tell tale signs of an incoming raid. Kuriyan informed Suri about the suspicion of a raid and asked for permission to scramble the CAP. Suri refused to order the CAP to go off and ordered Kuriyan to go off the shift. About the same time, Flt. Lt. Trilochan Singh of No.3 Sqn was leading his formation of four Mysteres in a strike against ground targets at Chamb. The strike had been put up on receipt of information that the Pakistani forces were being withdrawn from Chamb to reinforce defenses elsewhere. An earlier strike had passed on information about Pakistani tanks & trucks being transported back along a road near the Chamb sector. And the strike was executed.
Fg. Off. M.R. Murdeshwar and Fg. Off. Janak Kapur of No.23 were flying top cover for this formation in two Gnats. The endurance of this mission was limited only by the flight endurance of the Gnat Escort. For once the Gnat reached its maximum limit at which it had to turn back, the Mysteres too would have to go back as they would be deviod of air cover. In this case, Murdeshwar, had observed the limit approaching the aircraft for this mission. He informed the Mysteres leader, Trilochan Singh about it.
Trilochan Singh replied back "Manna, One more round, lets finish them off," Murdeshwar said OK. And the Mysteres went in for another run. About this time Gnat No.2 Janak Kapur, called over the radio, "Backbay Leader, Bingo, fuel limit reached," Murdeshwar called out to the Mystere formation to finish off their run and make for base.
The attack run over, the Mysteres turned for home cruising along at a speed of 500 knots. Soon the Mysteres outpaced the Gnats by a considerable distance as the Gnat cruised at a much slower optimum speed of around 400 knots. But the number three in the Mystere formation started straggling behind. It turned out that the pilot Fg. Off. Dinky Jatar observed his undercarriage lights have come up and he could not fly more than 250 knots airspeed under the conditions. Murdeshwar decided to cut down on his speed to escort the straggler. He instructed Janak Kapur to carry on, as he was having lesser amount of fuel and could not afford to fly at lower speeds.
Soon the Mystere formation and Janak's Gnat were out of sight. Only Murdeshwar's Gnat and the straggling Mystere of Jatar's were in the sky. Jatar radioed that the slow airspeed is burning up his fuel and he would require a direct approach to Pathankot. Murdeshwar still had some reserve left and agreed to let Jatar make a direct approach to the runway.
Jatar was on his last throes of fuel reserves, when the runway came into his sight. He landed the aircraft on the runway, accompanied by Murdeshwar in the downward leg. Murdeshwar then just flew on to make a dog leg to try and land in the opposite direction. Jatar took the Mystere to the end of the runway and started taxing back on the parallel taxi track when his engine flamed out, starved out of fuel. The Mystere rolled to a halt.
Murdeshwar was now coming in to land in the opposite direction, he could see in a corner of the eye JatarÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s Mystere slowing down on the taxi track, then his attention was attracted by the sudden spurt of R/T transmissions. The ATC was frantically announcing, "Incoming Raid, Incoming Raid." Murdeshwar cursed himself on his fuel state. If he had enough fuel, he could have taken off and intercepted the incoming aircraft. By this time his aircraft had landed and he was taxiing into a blast pen.
Wg. Cdr. Kuriyan was just then driving into his garage at his house, when he heard the ack-ack guns booming. He looked towards the airfield to see four F-86 Sabres bore down the airfield at low level firing their machine guns, while two Starfighters kept high altitude cover. As the four Sabres pulled out, another four bore in. The Sabres strafed buildings, installations and aircraft on the ground. The A-A Guns had opened up onto targets in the sky, and the sounds of machine guns strafing the airfield was audible.
Fg. Off. Janak Kapur who had already landed had just then steered his Gnat into a Blast pen and climbed out of his Gnat, when a fellow officer yelled, "Sir, look up, they are attacking." Kapur looked up to see the Sabres pulling up for the attack. Murdeshwar's Gnat was noticed by the Sabres as it was making its way to the blast pen. A volley of bullets straddled the Gnat just as Murdeshwar jumped out of the aircraft and out of the blast pen. Within seconds the bullets destroyed the Gnat.
The air traffic control tower at that time was newly built at Pathankot. It still did not house the ATC Staff as yet. The Actual ATC was located in a trench covered by a tent on the opposite side of the tarmac, where the ATC Controllers operated using R/T sets. Wg. Cdr. M.S.D. Wollen was one of the pilots scheduled to take off that particular evening. Wollen dived into the ATC trench when the attack began and watched the entire attack from there.

Gp. Cpt. 'Nosey' Haider, the PAF pilot who led the successful Pathankot raid.
The Sabres surprisingly left the JatarÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s Mystere on the taxi track alone, probably in the assumption that it was a decoy and attacked the row of MiGs, Mysteres along the blast pens in the airfield. The CAP was not scrambled. The Gnats on the ORP too escaped damage. However, two of the MiG-21s which were being refueled after returning from an earlier flight, went up in flames.
At that time the only Indian aircraft in the air was a lone Mystere on a training flight. Fg. Off. McMohan was a rookie pilot on the training sortie in the Mystere. He hardly had about 50 flying hours to his credit. Luckily for him, the ATC Controller recognized the danger of the rookie pilot getting caught in the combat and instructed McMohan to head south and come back later. McMohan eventually landed back after the raid was over.
Some Mysteres on the ground bore the brunt of the raid, and were damaged. As were the two MiG-21s. Only the fact that the Sabre's 0.50 inch machine guns could fire ball ammunition instead of exploding cannon shells prevented further damage. The Sabres slipped off unscathed, as even the airfield defences were caught napping. For the PAF, this raid was a cakewalk, the next one was not going to be another. All in all, one C-119, four Mysteres, two Gnats and two MiG-21s were destroyed in this highly successful raid by the PAF.